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Chatting with a Mormon Missionary: Take 7

Today I'll be posing as David, asking questions on the nature of certainty and how anyone can really know anything about "god".

You are speaking live with Katie, who is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Information provided in this session is to provide assistance only and is not an official statement of the Church.

Katie: hello

Me: Hi - I'm David.

Katie: how are you?

Me: I'm good, how are you?

Katie: I'm doing well, thanks
what prompted you to come on mormon.org?

Me: I have some questions about god in general and about lds specifically

Katie: great

Me: Why do you believe that Mormonism is the right religion?

Katie: what has led you to have questions about God and the church?

Me: I don't see how people can be so certain they're right, and I wonder what's different about them. (By calling it "different" instead of deficient, I'm allowing Katie to think she has an opportunity to tell me about the difference the Holy Ghost makes.)

Katie: great question
David, God has given us some incredible tools so that we can know truth
scriptures and prayer

Me: Do you mean like the rules of logic and our critical thinking skills?

Katie: let me share a little bit with you about the church
yes! Those are also important tools that he has given us
He teaches us many wonderful truths about who we are and His plan for us
through prophets
and we are invited to read their words
and to pray and ask Him is it is true

God has give us the Bible and in our day he has brought forth the Book of Mormon ("our day" is the 1850s?)
another testament of JEsus Christ

Me: How do you know those are the right holy books?

Katie: because
I have read them abd pondered their teachings

Me: Not trying to be offensive, but when there are so many other religions and religious texts, how do you know which is right?

Katie: and most importantly I have asked God if it is true
sorry, I didn't mean to answer with just because :)

Read the rest at Angie the Anti-Theist

Tags: angietheantitheist, belief, chat, debate, history, joseph, lds, missionary, mormon, smith

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Comment by Joseph Heston on December 29, 2011 at 5:43pm: It's pretty difficult to get a Mormon irate. Nevertheless, great job Angie.

Comment by Angie Jackson on September 24, 2009 at 10:00am: Antoyne - Wow, that compliment borders on creepy lol. One kid is exactly the right number for me :)

Comment by Angie Jackson on September 9, 2009 at 11:27am: David - That's awesome! Swedes seem much more religion resistant :)

Jennifer - Thanks :)

Shane - agreed, but since I grew up in a cult, this is good practice for debunking the myths still dormant in my own head.

John - Yeah, I'll watch out for that. I plan on skimming it just as thoroughly as I assume she's going to skim the Koran :p

Comment by Angie Jackson on September 9, 2009 at 11:25am: Hey Dave - I ordered free dead-tree copies of the BOM and the Bible. My old bible is one of these read-the-bible-in-a-year types and so it's broken up oddly and is crappy as a reference tool. Plus, Bibles are expensive. And sometimes I like to play dress and pretend to be a street preacher and a Bible makes a really good prop :)

Comment by Jennifer W on September 9, 2009 at 8:30am: These never get old.

Comment by Dave Rogers on September 8, 2009 at 3:13pm: Angie, if you are going to read it, read it for free at the http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/BOM/index.htm It's complete and has loads of skeptical comments which might make reading it easier (if possible).

BTW My family and I worship a new jug of milk almost every day.

Comment by David Andersson on September 8, 2009 at 2:50pm: I had mormon missionaries knocking on my door here in Sweden a couple of months back. Turns out they haven't recruited ONE Swede yet.

Comment by Shane Smith on September 8, 2009 at 2:19pm: Mormons are like sales reps. everything is scripted. and if you get out of their comfort zone, the always fall back on, "the holy ghost tells me it is true"

It's so annoying..

Comment by DocMike on September 8, 2009 at 1:28pm: So... Let us have it! What did God say when Katie asked if it was true? Please tell me so I will know the truth! ;-)